So the first chapter of climbing at this year’s Tour de France has ended. While I’m sure no one is surprised that Chris Froome is in yellow, I’m not sure anyone would’ve tipped him to be leading by almost three minutes.

Ricky Gervais tells the story of Carl Pilkington asking why people bother riding the Tour de France. When told it was because of the huge prize money on offer for the winner, Pilkington replied, “Yeah, but why do all the others do it?”

While Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour victories was a feat unparalleled until he had them stripped, the Texan was never really in the discussion as the greatest cyclist of all time, with that particular title belonging to Belgian Eddy Merckx.

Doping remains an endemic problem, cycling chief Brian Cookson has said after the publication of a damning independent report accusing cycling’s world body of turning a blind eye to drug cheat Lance Armstrong.

For those who missed his comments on Monday, disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong has been quoted as saying that if faced with the same situation as he was in in 1995, he “would probably do it [dope] again”.